Toujour Thy Amour
by janeaxoxo
Summary: Seven years ago Troy and Gabriella learned that managing love outside of high school is no easy task. Their puppy love couldn't survive the dog pound-the real world, they separated. Seven years later, something more important than them both may draw them together. Is the force strong enough to make these lost souls regain the love they once had? Re-vamp of YouTube series.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I truly am sorry I said I was going to post this way sooner but so much has been going on with me it's been a rocky road. I'm going through a very rough patch in my life; it's been a very depressing time for me. I decided to revamp this story because I never finished it on YouTube and it's always been at the back of my mind after all these years. I'm warning you guys now I am not a writer, I like to write sometimes when I'm feeling down and I'm writing this simply for enjoyment. I will try my best to update regularly but like I said my life is just up in turmoil right now so it's up in the air. Also if you like story banners I have the story banner for **_**Toujour **_**on my profile so feel free to check it out. Well there's nothing left to say I just hope you guys enjoy this story. **

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Gabriella exited the library with her sack bursting with books. Taking nine courses was one thing, but balancing that with her sorority duties and a rowdy boyfriend was another. Needless to say, she was exhausted.

All she wanted to do was crawl into her dorm bed and pass out. But she knew that wasn't an option. She needed to get to her dorm to finish her essay and then hopefully have some alone time with Troy.

But this seemed impossible to do at the moment seeing as Troy was late to pick her up.

She has noticed a lot changes from Troy since they'd started college. His behavior went from a thoughtful and decent to unruly. He had changed so much in a matter of months. And it wasn't a change Gabriella was too fond of. But she often willingly disregarded his faults because she was completely in love.

She had given up so much for this relationship already. She was offered a scholarship to Stanford University that she turned down to stay in Albuquerque with Troy. Some may say it was a rather stupid choice but being with Troy shaped who she was today. He played a major part in building her up from that once shy science geek to someone who had confidence and spoke her mind when needed to. And she honestly didn't want to leave his side.

After waiting for half an hour, calling his cell phone numerous times, and calling her dorm mate- she finally realized she would have to make the half-mile journey across the campus on foot.

Sighing, she pulled on her heavy sack and purse and continued walking…. while wearing heels.

All the while she thought that maybe this was some childish form of payback from Troy, who's upset that she had to cancel their dinner plans so that she could go to the library and get a mandatory essay done.

"He's so immature." Gabriella said out loud, in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Who is, pretty lady?" Gabriella looked over to see Troy pulled over in his car.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "You are! You're late. I thought you weren't gonna come at all." She said as she got into his car.

"Gabriella, I was mad at you, sure. But you honestly thought I'd leave you to walk alone half a mile in the dark on a party night with a bunch of drunk and horny guys wandering around?"

Gabriella turned red.

"I wouldn't do that!" Troy said sincerely.

"I know! I'm sorry. Let's just go home. I can finish this stupid essay tomorrow. We haven't been together in a while and I miss you".

"I'm not really up to it, babe."

"But…you just said! Please? I really do miss you!" Gabriella said a little disheartened.

Troy sighed. "Oh alright; your dorm mate's in?"

"Nope, it's toga night at TKE. Mandy NEVER misses a toga night."

"Good to know."

Gabriella giggled and kissed him on the cheek.

It wasn't long before the couple got to Gabriella's dorm room.

Gabriella threw her books on the floor. Troy let out a sigh as he plopped down on her bed. Gabriella followed suit lying down beside him.

"How was practice?" She asked curiously.

"Oh you know, practice…was practice", He said nonchalantly as if that made sense.

"Big game coming up," She snuggled up to him.

"The last game before the playoffs," He began peppering light kisses on her neck. "Coach told me there's going to be some scouts coming." He paused for a moment looking her in the eyes. "You're coming right?"

"What! That's great! That's HUGE!" She was beaming; she was really ecstatic for him. "What's the day?"

"Next Thursday at 5," He responded simply.

Her face fell a little. "Oh man, I have that interview with the paper**…**Maybe I could try and go earlier, or I could just resch…**"**

"Baby its fine, you go your interview," Troy tried to shrug it off as if it was no big deal but he was having a hard time hiding his disappointment.

"No I'm going to your game. I'll figure something out…I wouldn't miss it. I'll be there." She said before pulling him down into a chaste kiss.

Troy deepened the kiss and it quickly became heated. Soon the couple was locked passionate kisses, heated touches; lost in their own ecstasy.

* * *

Two months later…

Gabriella swallowed and spoke slowly into the phone. "And that was the last time we had sex. I can't believe I'm…."

Gabriella sat on her bed while talking to her close friend Taylor, who was actually more like a sister. Whenever Gabriella needed advice she'd talk to Taylor. She always gave the best advice. But it's been kind of hard not having her best friend there physically since Taylor was away at Yale.

"Have you told Troy yet? I'm judging from the silence that you haven't. You have got to tell him Gabriella, it's only right." Taylor said encouragingly.

"I know, I know… I just don't want to hurt him."

"How could that hurt him?"

"It's a lot of stress and he may not be ready to hear it! It can destroy everything!"

"I think you're being a little melodramatic – no more hanging out with Sharpay!" Taylor snickered after she said this.

"I'm serious, Taylor!"

"I know, I know! The answer is simple, Gabriella. Tell him. Then you two can figure out the solution together."

"It's not as simple as that! I can't…how can you tell a boy that has everything going for him… I'm so confused!" Gabriella sighed. "How is it that I can calculate the atomic properties of a distant star but when it comes to Troy Bolton I am constantly at lost?"

"You can't understand everything honey. If you could, you'd be God."

"Thanks, Taylor. You know just what to say." She said sarcastically as she smacked her head into her palms.

"Well, I've given you my advice. It's your decision whether to follow it. I have to go; I have to be at my interview"

"Good luck with that".

"Thanks love. Let me know how it goes. Love you talk to you soon".

"Will do. Love you too, bye." Gabriella voiced a small sigh as she hung up her phone and looked over at a picture of Troy and her on her desk. She imagined a little girl with dark brown curly hair and blue eyes stuck in between them.

Smiling, she finally realized this didn't have to be so bad after all. Gaining what courage she possessed; she exited her dorm to find Troy and tell him the news of their baby growing in her stomach.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Gabriella climbed the stairs that led to Troy's room in the sports dorm with anticipation. She was scared to tell him but excited at the same time.

As she neared his door; it opened up to reveal a blonde girl giggling and exiting the room. Troy stood holding the door open and gave her a kiss.

"Bye, Troy Boy." The girl said before giggled again.

Troy didn't notice Gabriella standing in the middle of the hall with a look of shock plastered on her face.

If he did; he would of saw the inner battle going on in her through her eyes.

Right now Gabriella was on the brink of either going home to cry or bombarding into Troy's room to confront him.

As the girl walked past her and smirked (clearly recognizing Gabriella as Troy's legit girlfriend)…Gabriella decided to choose the latter. What courage she had built up before had turned into fuel for her oncoming tirade.

She knocked on his door fiercely (forgetting that he had given her a key six months ago).

"One minute…one minute!" Troy shouted.

As he opened the door, he struggled to put a shirt on.

"Gabriella? Don't you have a key? Why do you look so pissed?"

"Oh I don't know, Global warming, Darfur, my cheating boyfriend!"

Troy rebutted quickly. "What are you talking about, I'm not…"

"Are you seriously going to stand there and lie to me? I saw her leave your room, Troy!"

"Okay…you're right. I did cheat! There! Are you happy?!"

"How can I be happy about that? You go and cheat for no good reason…"

"No good reason! You're never there for me! Always studying, always pledging, and always being perfect! There are plenty of girls that would kill to be in your place, Gabriella!"

"I know you've already let them in! Everything was good but you're acting like a baby. I say no to you one time and you automatically let go."

"You're as just as much fault as I am, Gabriella!"

"Bullshit! I would be if I had cheated on you. What have I done wrong? You're upset because I won't sleep with you! Don't you get enough from the sluts that sneak in your room every other night! Yes, I heard the whispers. And I noticed the looks a group of girls would throw at me. Those looks like 'I've been with your boyfriend. You aren't so special!' And I ignored them. I ignored them all because I trusted you. "

"Gabriella, you're giving me a headache. I'm tired and…"

"Oh I bet you are! But you wanna know what I'm tired of?"

"Not particularly…" Troy said uninterested while rubbing his forehead. He stood there dully- taking it all- having no argument in his voice; And for some reason that infuriated Gabriella even more.

"Well you're gonna hear it! I'm tired of the cheating, the lying, and bullshit excuses! I'm trying to make this work and you're just…"

"Well maybe you need to stop trying. I already have."

At this, Gabriella stood stock still and just stared at him. All of her previous rage had disappeared.

Gabriella was stunned. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe we should just go our separate ways from here. I mean... I'll always love you, but I'm not just IN love with you anymore."

"Out of all the crappy cliché lines you could have fed me, you feed me _that_ one? Well I'm not gonna be a bit more original and end it like this. Fuck you, Troy! Consider your number deleted from my cell phone and here's your key back. Give it to one of your sluts. You never know when you'll need a midnight whore."

"Gabriella, I hope we can still be…"

"I'm not gonna even finish that sentence for you, because even that would be too cliché. Just don't talk to me from here on out? Can you process that? I should've ended it in 10th grade. "

With that she stormed out of the room- slamming the door. By the time she reached her dorm, she had broken down into tears.

As she sat on the floor she looked to see one of the many forgotten pregnancy test boxes she had taken.

"Oh my god…how could this have happened to me?"

Even though abortion was an option, Gabriella knew instinctively it wasn't one for her. Plenty of women with less intelligence and less options have managed to be young mothers and she would too. She knew she'd keep the baby.

She never realized the possibility of her having to be a single mother. She looked over at her picture of Mary; she had been pregnant by herself. Then she remembered – even Mary had Joseph.

"This sucks!" Gabriella thought as she looked down at her belly. She wondered when the belly would start to swell, when she'd start to show.

"It's all Troy's fault!' she thought, wanting to be able to blame someone for her predicament. In reality it was her own fault for letting Troy convince her that birth control pills would be enough. As a scientist, she knew 98% isn't the same thing as 100%

She looked at her stacks of books and her aced tests.

"I'm a young, smart, strong woman- I can handle this by myself. I don't want my baby to grow up with a cheating father. What type of example would that be?" She thought as she looked in the mirror.

She raised her shirt to study her abdomen, looking for any bulges. As she turned to the side, her roommate walked in.

"What are you doing?" Mandy asked while looking concerned. "You don't have some type of eating disorder do you?"

Gabriella giggled at both Mandy and the situation.

"No sadly chicken is too delicious and I can never bring myself to throw it up" she said sarcastically but in a small voice.

She looked back in the mirror. She could still smile; so maybe there was still some hope in the world.

* * *

**Please review. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Seven years later

"Mommy!" Ariana yelled jarringly from her bedroom. Gabriella dropped her hairbrush in haste, running to the call of her daughter. As she reached the mint green bedroom she put her hand to her heart as she tried to calm her breath. She began to ask what was wrong when she looked up to find her daughter staring at ceiling corner of her bedroom. Her little hand was pointing to a centipede crawling high on her wall.

"Do you want me to kill it for you, honey?" Gabriella asked whilst laughing. Her worry had been for naught.

"Are you crazy?! I just wanted to show it you. It's cool, isn't it? Can I have a jar to keep it in?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes at her daughter's tom-boyness.

"Um, centipedes aren't really good pets, hun."

"Oh alright. But just don't kill it."

"Sure."

Ariana exited her room to go to the bathroom to get ready for daycare. Gabriella took the chance to kill the bug with her shoe and grabbed a spare sheet of white paper and scraped it onto there. She then threw it in the trash.

Ariana came back at that moment.

"What did you do with it mommy?" She walked over and sat on her lap.

Gabriella began brushing Ariana's hair into a ballerina bun. "Oh, I just used a piece of paper and put it outside."

Ariana seemed happy with that response as soon as her mom was done with her hair she went and grabbed her backpack.

"Remember, you wait for Christina this time to take you to dance practice. No more running off. Understand?"

"Ok, sure. But I can't wait until the fall so I can play basketball too." With her going to the first grade in the fall she was finally old enough to join her school's team and she was so excited.

She grinned the exact way Troy did. Ariana had inherited most of her looks from her mother like her honey skin tone and curly hair. However she also strongly resembled Troy from the chestnut brown hair color, to the jaw line, the stunning light blue eyes, and the smile, though Gabriella would like to claim the deep dimples on either side of her cheeks, but the smirk was all Troy.

"You are just like your father."

"Tell me about dad, again!"

Gabriella hesitated. "Um…not now, honey. We're going to be late."

"No were not, we've got fifteen more minutes…"

"Yes, we are! Come on, sweetheart!"

"Okay". She knew her mother was just avoiding the issue, but caved in anyway.

Fifteen minutes later, Ariana was waiting for the others to arrive at her daycare and Gabriella was stomping the streets of New York City with a cappuccino in hand. As she walked past the numerous of their New Yorkers rushing about, she couldn't help but to be occasionally reminded of her closest friends.

Taylor and Chad managed a long distance relationship throughout college and Chad went on to be drafted to the NY Knicks right after graduation. And as soon as Taylor left Yale, she moved to NYC to be with Chad and to attend Columbia Law school. Having graduated law school and passing the bar with flying colors, she quickly landed an amazing job at a top law firm in the city.

Ryan had been a top student at Julliard. Throughout college he had been a teacher at different dance studios in the city. But two years ago he opened his own studio and with his innovative, artistic choreography and phenomenal teaching methods, the business became a success. He had been teaching Ariana since she was 4.

She and Sharpay had never really seen eye to eye in high school. It wasn't until Gabriella moved to NYC a few years ago that she and Sharpay became friends. Gabriella never realized this when she was younger but Sharpay truly loved doing productions. It was her passion. So when Gabriella came along, simply doing the talent shows for fun and overtaking Sharpay's roles, it really did upset her. Sharpay saw every production as a serious job and a step closer to her goals. Gabriella could understand that now because it would be like if someone had cheated their way into getting A's in Math and Science and taking over her top rankings whilst not really caring about the subject.

Now, Sharpay is a Broadway star. Sure she was dramatic, over the top and prissy but she always delivered when she hit the stage. She was passionate about being a Broadway star, it was her ultimate goal and she achieved it.

Not long after her and Troy ended their relationship, Gabriella transferred to Stanford. Gabriella had pulled through college at the top of her class, even while balancing motherhood.

She never claimed to have done it alone, though. She knew if it wasn't for her friends and mother, she would have never had the life she leads today. She is an acknowledged research scientist and a well-paid scientific journalist for the New York Times.

She finds out about new science developments before any other journalist partly because of her connections and partly because she's the one that routinely helps discovers it. Her articles are one of the most read parts of the newspaper because she actually makes her articles easy and enjoyable to understand while still being informative. All in all, she had the Sex and the City lifestyle going on, except for her fabulous daughter, Ariana. Gabriella's thoughts had jumped to her narrow escape of having to tell her daughter about Troy.

It was painful having to think about him, let alone explain him to her daughter. Ariana knew that Troy Bolton was her father, but that's all she knew. It was by sheer accident that she had even found that out and it's all Chad's fault.

Chad had slipped and told Ariana that her father had played basketball when in high school alongside him as the captain. Ariana was a smart little girl, and all she had to do was filch Gabriella's old High School Yearbook, look up the basketball team's captain, then read all about the scandal Troy and her mother's relationship had caused. They were deemed the perfect couple in that year book and Ariana surely recognized her own eyes and chestnut brown hair color staring back at her from Troy's picture. People always told her she had such strikingly beautiful eyes and she now she knew they were inherited from her father. Two days later, she had found a picture of him on the internet, being a pro-basketball player it wasn't that hard and she confronted Gabriella about it.

Gabriella didn't even insult her intelligence by denying it. She knew Ariana had done her research. Gabriella had told her that he was, in fact, her father, and gave her a brief, kid-rated version on why they had broken up.

Coming out her thoughts, Gabriella had reached the New York Times office. Just as she entered the lobby, she spotted a tall man with blonde hair. Immediately, her alert mode came up and she started to dodge him like a plague, like she did every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. Hastily, she ran to the opening elevator, oblivious to which floor the elevator would take her. Twenty minutes later, she had arrived late to her office, with tons of memos stuck on her desk waiting for her. She loved her job but it could be tiring. Checking her e-mail, she was delighted to have received a message from Sharpay that included tickets to yet another Broadway show she was starring in. She also had an email from Taylor, her discount attorney on account that they were best friends. Shaking her head and laughing at her friends' e-mails. Gabriella got right to work on a piece debating the merits of a possible cure for breast cancer using purely extracted cannabis.

With so much success at just 26 years old, she of course had many envious writers that were below her in status but far transcended her in age.

One of these people were Stan, a 38 year old straitlaced bachelor, whom tried to prove Gabriella inferior every chance he could. He also liked to throw the fact that she was single mother back in her face, every other day.

Gabriella was just finishing up her article when Stan had come in without knocking.

"I have discovered a new break while you were in here playing on your computer."

Agitated and tired, Gabriella forced herself to look up from her long, extensive article.

"Great. What is it, Stan?" she said in a deadpan tone.

"Oh nothing big, just a possible cure for cancer!"

Gabriella smirked. "Once again…you are about 2 days too late and have faulty information; I'm finishing up the article as we speak. It wasn't cure for all types of cancer, just breast cancer…now, bye Stan."

Stan went red faced and marched out the office angrily. Ten minutes later, Gabriella had written and edited the article and it was being shipped to the printing machine as she exited the lobby. She had just worked an eight hour shift and was exhausted.

Half an hour later, when she arrived home Ariana was taking her nap. Looking down at her daughter's porcelain face; she could see bits of Troy looking back at her. She leaned down and kissed her on her forehead, and careful not wake Ariana, exited the room swiftly.

Sitting down and reading a book; she couldn't help but to allow herself to wonder what Troy Bolton was doing at that very moment.

* * *

At that very moment, on the other side of the country in L.A., Troy was negotiating with the sports directors about being drafted.

"I won't come for less than 50 million for a four year contract."

"Are you sure the Knicks can afford that?" A negotiator asked.

The other negotiator responded without hesitation. "Of course we can, for him! Think of the tickets we'll sale. Son, you have a deal!"

"Fine, when will we start?"

"For 50 big ones. I say we start immediately. The next season kicks off in two weeks. You'll be late for training, but with your skills- you can work around that."

"Two weeks, sure. I pack up my entire life in two weeks."

"What life?! I was under the impression you have no loved ones here. That's why the Knicks need you, son. No baggage."

Troy gave him an apprehensive grin as he shook the man's hand.

He couldn't help but have his thoughts wander to Gabriella, how his life would be different if they were still together. Would he still be getting 50 million dollar contract deals? Would he have a kid and be married, and work some stupid office job?

Would he be happier and less lonely? Shaking him out of his thoughts, him and his manager embraced happily about the deal they had just made. His revenue was already pouring in from the various endorsement deals he had.

Still, after the many nameless women had left his condo and his teammates had finally gone home to their wives; he feels that lonely, gaping hole in life. When it got too intense to handle, he would simply call one of his many 'girlfriends' on speed dial.

Troy immediately went home to begin packing. They had been debating for hours, but Troy eventually got what he wanted. He was the top player in the NBA and every team was begging to get a piece of him.

He would be lying if he said the fact that his former best friend played for the Knicks had nothing to do with his decision to join them. It would be nice for a change to live near a familiar face since life was kind of lonely in LA.

Not long after Gabriella left University of New Mexico, he'd been drafted to the NBA. He played for the Mavericks for a few years and he'd been with the Lakers for the last two years. With their busy schedules he and Chad only really saw and heard from each other once in a while. It was only really common if they played against each other but he was hoping that moving to New York would rekindle their friendship; he missed his best friend/brother. He missed all his high school friends really. But most of all he missed…he couldn't even go there. He had to stay focused on the present as he probably would never see her again anyway.

Troy sighed after a few minutes of lugging things around. He realized there were services that could get this done in thirty minutes for him. So he got his assistant on his phone and told her to hire someone to do it for him.

An hour later, the men were there to pack up his things and ship them to New York. When asked for the address, Troy had remembered he had not bought a new condo. Getting on his laptop, he put his condo up for sale- advertising heavily that he had lived there, and bought a new one online in New York City. Two hours later, his condo was sold for one million dollars, when he had only originally paid 500 grand for it.' Feeling sort of guilty about it, he gave away the money to his regular charity- St. John's for kids.

An hour later, he had everything packed and on its way to be shipped to his new apartment. He knew this was inconvenient for his maid and assistant, both would have to relocate. There was no way he was losing Rosalina. She made the best chicken fajitas and Sharon was like a second mother to him, and if he was being honest, her caring nature reminded him of Gabriella's mother.

He sighed, knowing he'll have to give both of them a hefty pay raise, not that they didn't deserve it. He knew for sure that Sharon had a condo in New York and just about every other major city in the world.

He could buy Rosalina a small condo near his; but getting her to leave her family would be an issue. With enough persuasion, particularly with money, he would eventually get her to make the trip across the country.

When he told her of his plans, she was upset. But after lots of persuasion, she had relented to go and stay with her cousins in Mexican Town. He had objected and offered to buy her a condo, but she had rather stay with family than be alone.

Sharon had no reaction; instead she just called and cancelled her utilities at her L.A. condo, and turned them on at her Manhattan one. She knew for months that he had been negotiating contracts, anyway.

The next day, Troy found himself boarding a flight first class alongside Rosalina. Sharon had booked her flight late. Rosalina had booked for coach but Troy had upgraded her to first class with him.

Sighing, he plunged into the seat, and looked out the window.

Something inside him told him that this move would change his life forever. He was right.

* * *

**AN: First off I would like to say sorry for taking so long to update. I just started summer classes so it's been kind of hectic. I'm starting to think about discontinuing this story since there seems to be a lack of interest and I'm kind of pressed on time. But if you're reading this story and you're interested in it continuing PLEASE REVIEW. Just take a few seconds out to tell me what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Ariana hurriedly flipped to her favorite channel, ESPN, while she had a chance to. She sat back on the couch, watching the screen intently while hearing the distant ramblings of Christina talking on the phone.

She watched as her uncle Chad's face flashed across the screen and giggled. She still found it funny whenever she saw him on TV. So there she was watching sports news when all of a sudden her father's face flashed before her eyes.

She immediately sat forward in her chair. The headline on the screen read 'Troy Bolton drafted to the Knicks. Game on Monday'. She gasped- shocked that her father would now be living in the same city as her.

'Maybe, he'll try to contact me', she thought excitedly. Then she remembered he didn't even know she existed. But she was almost positive that if he ever saw her, he'd know immediately that she was his daughter. How would he see her though?

Ariana put that brain that would put her mother to shame to use as she thought of a clever, yet sinister way to get to see her father. Giggling, she turned off the television and hopped on the computer. She ran into her mother's room and took out the emergency credit card that her mother had told her was just for emergencies.

She got back on the computer and went to the Ticketmaster website and bought tickets to the big game; half an hour later, her mother arrived home and proceeded to get her ready for bed. Ariana couldn't wait for Monday.

The key to her plan was to do everything _as usual_.

Monday morning, Ariana said goodbye to her mother as she dropped her off at daycare _as usual_. She continued the day _as usual_ and waited anxiously for Christina to arrive. Five minutes before Christina's regular arrival time, she switched into her tutu, _as usual_.

Christina was on her cell phone, _as usual_, during the entire walk to her dance studio. Ariana said goodbye to Christina outside the big pine doors and _as usual_, Christina hardly noticed.

Ariana pretended to be opening the door, but as soon as Christina turned around, she shut the door back again and headed into the McDonald's two stores down the block. Ariana changed into her Knick's fan-gear and continued on her way to the Stadium.

Half an hour later she had arrived at the Stadium and had received her tickets from the ticket stand, stating that her pregnant mommy had to run to the bathroom, but flashing a credit card and her mom's spare ID. Smiling, she entered the stadium and found her seat, a seat any regular 6 year old would have found terrifying.

So she plopped down on her seat and waited for the players to enter the court. This took longer than expected; and she soon found herself to be a weird mixture of famished and too nervous to eat.

Finally, they announced the players, playing against the New Jersey Nets. When they started to call the starting five, she clapped loudly for her Uncle Chad, _as usual._

They had announced her dad last, and the crowd went wild. On the screen she saw him smile a winning smile, but she had caught a bit of a smirk on his face.

'So that's where I got that from.' She thought with that same exact smirk plastered on her face.

Two hours later, the Knicks had won the game and had her dad hoisted in the air. He had just scored twenty points in the last quarter, sealing their victory. Some fans rushed to the autograph stand, Ariana included.

She was so close, able to squeeze between the jam-packed people of the crowd. She had successfully cut to the front of the crowd, just when the team started walking into the locker-room.

She ducked when she saw Chad coming her way and resurfaced when she saw her dad coming nearer. For one brief moment, they made eye contact.

He had a confused look on his face and broke away when a blonde lady hopped out in front of his path and kissed him square on the mouth. And he kissed her back!

There was whistling all around, and he just laughed it off and continued on his way into the locker-room, not even bothering to look back at the mysterious little girl who reminded him so glaringly of his past love.

Little Ariana burst into tears and ran back into the crowd, unnoticed by everyone. She ran into the nearest bathroom, which happened to be the Men's, and hid in an empty stall. She then, proceeded to cry herself to sleep.

* * *

"I need that article by five sharp, Stan, or else…"

"Or else, what?" Stan retorted.

"Stanley, I am not in the best of moods right now okay. So I'd advise you to do what I pay you to do, or be ready to join the unemployment line. Am I clear?"

"Crystal." He said through clenched teeth.

Gabriella let out a sigh as she rubbed her temples. She had read the newspaper headline and found out the bane of her existence had been drafted to the Knicks. She stared down at the headline with rage as his picture smiled up at her with a cocky grin.

Her article was supposed to headline. Isn't a potential cure for cancer more important that some cocky, egotistical basketball player that had knocked her up when she was 19.

She had been restraining her temper and her tears all day and was just about ready to explode. In a sudden burst of anger, she threw the newspaper down to the floor. Suddenly, her cell-phone had gone off.

It was Christina, she was panicked and said she couldn't find Ariana anywhere. Shock permeated through Gabriella's every cell as she hastily dialed Ryan's number as she tried to comfort a hysterical Christina. She was disappointed when it went straight to voicemail then she remembered he was out of town judging a competition and he wasn't due back until tonight. So she hung up and quickly dialed the number to the dance studio.

When the receptionist answered she was surprised to hear from her; apparently she had sent an email saying that Ariana was supposed to be visiting her Grandmother on Monday, and wouldn't attend dance class. Gabriella asked to have the email forwarded back to her address. She noticed the grammatical mistakes and elementary vocabulary that Microsoft word couldn't fix in the e-mail and knew immediately that her daughter had typed this and sent it.

She was slightly relieved to know that Ariana wasn't kidnapped, but that meant she had run away. Confused and hurt, Gabriella looked down in thought. Her gaze drifted to the forgotten newspaper and her face lit up in recognition.

She knew where her daughter was.

* * *

An hour later, Gabriella was pounding on the door of the stadium, hysterically.

She knew it had been about three hours since the game had ended, but she still hoped that maybe her daughter was still there.

She had her co-workers keeping an eye out at her office just in case Ariana showed up there, and Christina was at the apartment. Finally, a security officer had opened the door.

"Please, sir! I need to get in there. I think my daughter's still in there!"

"She's missing? What does she look like?"

"Yes, she has curly hair like mine, light blue eyes, she's my complexion, and she's tall for her age. She might have had a backpack and a tutu! Please! I need to get in there!"

"I'm sorry miss; I can't let you in there. All of the players are still in there and…"

"GREAT! Can you please get Chad Danforth, please? He knows me. Just tell him Gabriella Montez needs him…can you get him alone when you tell him this? Please?"

The officer took a moment to analyze the young woman's desperate look and caved in.

"I'll try."

"Thank you so much, officer!"

He nodded as he walked away.

It took ten minutes for Chad to arrive at the front doors looking confused as the officer trailed behind him.

"Gabriella, what's up? You do know who's here right now, don't you?

"Yes, I 'm very much aware", she snapped. "Ariana is missing."

Chad's jaw dropped. "Wuh? Why? How?"

"She might be here."

"Why would she be here?"

"Let's see, shall we, Chad? If your dad, whom you never met, is playing his first game with your favorite team; where would you be?"

"True dat. Let's go look for her."

"I'll have the staff search for her, too." The officer said, choosing to ignore shocking the information he just heard.

"Thank you so much."

"I'll ask the team to help."

"No!" Gabriella shouted quickly.

"Gabriella, you were gonna have to tell him some time, you know?"

"I know, but, I'm just not ready to see him, Chad. Please?"

"Gabriella, I've lied to my best friend for 7 years for you."

"You didn't exactly lie; you just left him in the dark about some things."

"Some things? Some things? It's his daughter! That's not some things. That's one very real, living breathing little girl that he has no clue that he helped create!"

"I know, Chad! I know, but not now! Please? Let's just keep trying to find her!" She said desperately.

They were passing the locker-room as the team was exiting.

"Gabriella?" Troy looked her way with a dazed expression.

She spun back around, her face expressionless.

"Hello, Troy. Chad, are you coming?"

"Um…yeah."

"Dude, what's happening?" A teammate asked Chad.

"Her daughter is missing."

"You…you have a daughter?" Troy looked even more shocked, if that were possible.

"Yes, now if you guys can excuse me. I need to find my daughter."

Her expression had remained completely blank. She could have been telling them the weather forecast.

"We'll help you." members of the team announced.

Gabriella looked surprised and smiled a tiny, grateful smile. "Thank you so much."

They broke off to check around the stadium. An hour later, they still hadn't found her.

"Are you sure she's here?" Chad asked.

"I don't know why, but I'm absolutely positive. Call it motherly instincts."

At the same time one of the players had to go to the bathroom and happened to stumble upon a little girl sleeping in a stall.

'That certainly doesn't belong here', he thought as he picked the little girl up.

She stayed asleep in his arms as he carried her to her mother. Relief shown across Gabriella's face as she saw the man approaching with Ariana snuggled in his arms.

"Is this it?"

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Yea, yea, just take her. I really have to go!" He handed Ariana to Gabriella and immediately took off in the direction of the men's room.

"Ariana, honey…wake up." Gabriella whispered in her daughter's ear.

Troy, amazed, recognized the little girl as the one from earlier and took a few steps closer to examine her.

She stirred awake.

"Mommy."

"Yes, sweetheart."

Ariana's eyes drifted to the man standing behind her mother's shoulder.

"Daddy."

_And that's the story of how a six year old girl made the fully grown 6'2 Troy Bolton, faint by muttering a single word. In the years to come, the story would be told as a cautionary tale in locker rooms around the nation._

* * *

**Where were all you guys hiding before?! It was great to read all those reviews from you guys that's what I want to see, I like to hear what you think of the chapters. So thank you. Continuing with the circumstance I'll need at least 10 reviews before the next chapter. I want to keep hearing from you guys.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

'And he just dropped. Ariana dropped the D-bomb on him and he just…fainted. If it were any other situation, I would be rolling on the floor laughing right now, but nothing about this was funny…okay, it was a little funny'. Gabriella thought as she stared down at Troy.

He was up within 40 seconds, red-faced as his teammates taunted him. As Troy stared at Gabriella, she felt the need to make a hasty escape.

"Thank you guys, for helping me find her. Well, we have to go. Chad, tell Taylor I said don't forget lunch tomorrow."

Gabriella walked away hastily, still carrying a sleeping Ariana. As she neared the corner, she heard Troy shout her name. He must have finally got out of shock. Gabriella kept going, pretending she didn't hear him and sped up. Gabriella heard him running after her and slowed down.

'It's pointless to try and outrun a pro-basketball player while holding a 45 pound child.' She thought in defeat. 'It's time to face the music.'

"What, Troy?" she said calmly as she turned to face him.

"Is it true…what she said?" he asked tentatively, running his hand through his messy brown locks.

"Let's see, Troy. She's six years old. Where was I seven years ago? Oh yeah! Getting knocked up by you, coming to tell you about it and finding my boyfriend of four years cheating on me; so yeah, I guess…you are her father; In the genetic sense, at least."

Troy gulped. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Did you listen to a word I just said?"

"No, I mean after…"

"After what? After I got over it?"

"Well, yeah."

"Maybe I never 'got over it'?" Gabriella huffed. She didn't want to have this discussion in earshot of their sleeping daughter. She looked down at her watch. "I can't do this right now. It's late."

"How can I get in contact with you? She's my child too, Gabriella!"

"We'll work something out. I'm listed. I have to go." She began to walk away.

Troy followed. "Did you drive?"

"No, I took the subway."

"Come on, I'll drive you home."

"Troy…"

"No Gabriella. I'll drive you. I'm not about to let you walk around New York City late at night with MY daughter in your arms." She was too tired to even argue with him.

"Fine, whatever."

"It's this way." He led her through the back of the stadium into a private parking lot and over to a shiny, brand-new phantom.

"Crap, no car-seat!" Gabriella acknowledged.

"Well, can't we just strap her in?"

"I guess, but drive really carefully."

Gabriella sat Ariana in the back and strapped her in. She sat down in the passenger's seat- correction-into the most comfortable seat she'd ever felt.

Gabriella sighed as she leant back into it. She was never leaving this car, ever.

"Phantom, huh?"

"Just bought it, yesterday." He added.

"How much?"

"Does it matter?"

She paused for a moment. "Not particularly. I just might have to buy one of these just to strip it of the seats."

Troy snorted. "I'll buy you one, if you want one."

Gabriella looked over at him and glared. "You don't have to buy me anything. I can afford whatever I want on my own."

"What do you do anyway? Have you won a Nobel prize yet?"

"I'm a journalist for the New York Times and a research scientist and I'm up for consideration."

Troy whistled. "How did you pull off New York Times? I've heard it's nearly impossible to get a column there?"

"You forget who you're speaking to." Gabriella said dryly in response, earning a snort from Troy.

"You've gotten much cockier than I remembered! I'm proud." he said with a tentative smile as he glanced quickly at her.

Troy ran a hand through his short cropped hair. This was the shortest she'd ever seen his hair. Physically he'd changed a lot he'd gone from lanky to being filled out and especially muscular, his looks had matured and darkened and he sported a bit of facial hair.

She herself had changed, she was curvier, and she'd traded in her long locks for shorter curls that hung just a few inches down her back. Gone were the floral dresses and in turn crisp dress suits. But more than anything she'd changed mentally, she was no longer that weak little girl she once was but an independent woman who took care of herself and her little girl.

"So tell me about her. First of all…what's her name?" Troy asked.

"Ariana, Ariana Grace Montez."

"Montez?"

"I couldn't exactly put Bolton on the birth certificate, could I? The press would have figured it out eventually."

"True. I'll have to set up a trust fund for her."

"She already has a trust fund."

"Well, if I die. I'm gonna make sure she gets my 50 million."

Gabriella gasped. "Is that really how much you're worth?"

"Estimated amount. It's a little over it."

"No one needs that much money." She added.

"I know. That's why I donate about 2 million a year. The only problem is my accountant keeps writing it off on my taxes, so I end up getting most of that money back."

"I guess you made all the right choices, huh?" Gabriella remarked, while staring wistfully out of the window.

"I think we both know I've made the biggest mistakes with the most important things." Troy said somberly while staring in his rearview mirror at his sleeping daughter. There was a pregnant silence in the car for a few minutes.

"We're almost here. Turn left."

"Is this your building? It's nice."

"Yeah", Gabriella yawned.

"Let me carry her up, you look ready to pass out."

"Sure." She was too tired to argue, even thought she'd prefer not to let him in her home this early.

Soon Gabriella found herself in her apartment and watching Troy tuck in Ariana. She woke up while he was taking off her shoes.

"Daddy?"

"Yea, sweetheart. That's me."

"Are you staying?"

"No, but I promise I'll visit you soon."

Ariana nodded and fell back asleep.

Troy sighed and got up. We walked silently into the living room, near the front door.

"Your apartment is nice." he remarked whilst gazing around the living room. Gabriella noticed his eyes pause momentarily on the 'family portrait' of her and Ariana.

"Thanks."

He crossed through the front door and turned around. "I'll…I'll call you tomorrow."

"Right."

"Okay, I…bye."

"Bye." Gabriella said tiredly, she didn't even ponder what he was going to say. Soon he was out the door and she was asleep on the couch.

Getting to the bedroom was a challenge Gabriella was not equipped to tackle.

* * *

** A/N: 10 reviews for the next  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 **

The next morning, Gabriella pulled herself out of bed and her thoughts immediately went to Troy's reappearance yesterday.

She had never been as shocked as she was last night. She had expected him to yell at her, she expected him to blame her for everything, and deny Ariana as his child. That's what she had imagined his reaction would be for 7 years. For seven years the idea of him finding out had haunted her. And yet none of that happened.

Suddenly a rush of emotions ran through her…the strongest being guilt. She realized that for seven years she had kept her daughter from having a father because of her own selfish fears.

Unable to take all of the emotions rushing at her, she got up and began getting Ariana ready for daycare. She played the extra diligent mother that morning, making a grand breakfast that consisted of everything in the standard American breakfast…with a few Spanish dishes too.

Gabriella was obsessed with finding things to do to keep her mind off of the new events of her life. That's why she jumped when someone suddenly knocked on the door as Ariana was dressing for daycare.

Gabriella opened her door to find a flamboyant Sharpay standing giddily at her door.

"Sharpay? What are you doing, it's 7 in the morning!"

"I know! I know! I just wanted to drop off the tickets to my show for tonight. And to remind you we have lunch at 4. You better be there, I have to tell you all about my yummy co-star."

"Sure, Sharpay. But you know you could've called like regular people."

"The phone is for the little people."

"And when did you decide this?"

"When I realized I had forgot to charge my cell phone last night", Sharpay pointed out.

Gabriella laughed. "Bye Sharpay," she said this dismissively as she shut the door and continued to help Ariana get ready.

Gabriella had been content spending the remainder of the morning bossing around the employees, ordering them to do every single thing they had been procrastinating for the past three months.

At the end of the work day, every journalist in the Science department had finished enough work to last them for months and was literally passing out at their desks from the overload.

Gabriella, energetic as ever, practically skipped the few blocks to where she was eating lunch with her friends. By the time she got there, Sharpay and Ryan were sitting down at the table and gossiping like old ladies.

From the way they immediately ceased talking when they saw her arrive, she inferred they were talking about her. Sighing Gabriella sat down and decided to get straight to the point.

"What do you guys know?"

"Shouldn't we wait for Taylor?" Ryan asked trying to stall.

"What a marvelous idea, we should wait for Taylor!" Sharpay added.

"Taylor's engaged to Chad- he's probably told her everything already." Gabriella added.

The two sighed dejectedly, their one and only alibi for procrastination was out.

"Okay…apparently Ariana went and ran away to watch Troy play at the stadium, fell asleep in a bathroom, and you had the entire New York Knicks basketball team hunt for her. Then Ariana woke up and said Daddy and…"

"And Troy was out like last month's shoes." Ryan added.

"You two seem well-informed."

"I know people."

"Yeah, she's probably slept with half the team AND some of the more endowed janitors."

"I can't believe we share the same DNA." Sharpay said with an eye roll.

"And yet, she doesn't deny it."

"What else do you guys want to know?" Gabriella asked.

"How did he react, well other than the black out, but I mean after…" Sharpay seemed genuinely curious.

"Better than I had anticipated, I thought he'd yell or blame me, but he didn't. Even worse, I thought he'd deny being Ariana's father but it's like he just was concerned over her. He's really matured."

"I bet." Sharpay and Ryan snickered.

"Oh…okay, what now?" Gabriella asked.

"They're trying to say that Troy Bolton is currently sex on a stick." Taylor said this as she plopped down into her previously vacant chair. "Hello, loves."

"I'm sorry, he's…What?!"

All three grinned like they were enjoying some inside joke that Gabriella was out on.

"What?!" Gabriella was starting to get a little annoyed.

"Don't tell me you didn't notice? I mean, are you blind?"

"Or sexually confused? Cause believe me honey, I've been there." Ryan snickered while saying this.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not blind or sexually confused. But I wasn't gapping at him like some sluttish bimbo while my biggest secret had just been revealed to him. I think the fact that I had hidden his daughter from him is a more pressing matter than how cute his butt is."

Taylor leaned forward. "So you did notice?"

"Yes. But in my defense it was subconsciously." Gabriella tired to cover herself. But from the looks of everyone at the table were giving her no one was buying it.

"I'm surprised you weren't panting after him." Taylor pressed.

"Why?" Gabriella asked confused.

"You haven't been with anybody since you guys were dating." Ryan added hesitantly.

"Hey! I've dated and…"

"We're not talking about dating here honey. I mean every woman has their needs and I'm surprised yours aren't screaming to be fulfilled." Sharpay said in her usual over dramatic way.

"This isn't Sex and the City, _Samantha_. Sex is not the most important thing in the world. I have other things to think about, more important things."

Everyone at the table stopped and stared up at Gabriella like she was a crazed woman.

Sharpay gawked at her. "Oh honey, I didn't know it was that bad. You're practically delusional."

Ryan snorted. "Practically? I think she crossed that line long ago."

"And these are the people I call my best friends for life." Gabriella rolled her eyes and put her head in her hands.

"Aww, don't be mad, sweetheart. We're just teasing." Taylor rubbed her back.

Gabriella scoffed and crossed her arms.

The lunch went pretty much the same as always. Sharpay ordering enough to feed a football team and then complaining about gaining weight (which she NEVER does), Ryan ranting on Gabriella's fashion choices and Taylor offering to draft up a child custodial contractfor Gabriella.

By the time Gabriella arrived home in her apartment, she was not looking forward to the show tonight. She walked into her apartment to find Troy sitting on her couch with Ariana.

He had nearly given her a heart attack.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Your babysitter couldn't pick Ariana up so she called me."

"Why didn't she call me?"

"She tried, but your phone was off."

"That's complete bull; I have no calls on my phone. I never turn off my cell unless I'm in the lab, she knows that."

Troy shrugged and looked down at Ariana who was playing with a small, plastic basketball and hoop.

"How did she get that?"

"I bought it for her; the first gift of many."

"You can't just shower her with gifts, Troy, it'll spoil her."

"I just felt like I had six years worth of gifts I missed out on, so…"

That immediately shut Gabriella up, the instant tide of guilt washed over her. It must have showed on her face, because Troy next said..."I don't blame you, Gabriella. I know this was more my fault than yours."

Gabriella looked down and bit her lip.

"I think we should talk later, alone." Troy said seriously.

"I can't, I have Sharpay's show tonight."

"That's right…she sent me tickets."

"Oh, so are you going to go?" She was thankful for the change for subject.

"If you're going, definitely."

Gabriella blushed at the look in his eye and looked down to look at Ariana, who seemed engrossed in her new basketball set.

"Um, I guess…I'll go. How are you getting there?"

"Same way everyone else does in New York, Troy. A taxi."

"No need, I'll pick you up."

"No, that's not necessary." She argued.

"Nonsense, why spend fifty bucks on a taxi when you could get to ride in my brand new, extra comfortable car for free?"

"It's not nearly fifty bucks and…"

Troy smiled. "Great! It's a date; I'll pick you up at eight."

"Wait, it's a what?"

But Troy had already hurried out the door before Gabriella could protest. She sat idly on the couch in a trance. Another date…with Troy. A date…she had promised herself never again. But here she was acting like a lovesick teenager all over again.

Ariana giggled from the floor. She stared down at her daughter, who peeked up at her innocently; almost too innocently.

"This does not mean your father and I am getting back together, Ariana."

"Sure it doesn't." She said this too innocently, too. A mischievous vibe was definitely hidden by the cherubic voice that said the words. Gabriella's thought drifted suddenly to her wardrobe.

"But you look prettiest in your gold dress, mommy", Ariana said as she skipped merrily into her room.

Gabriella sighed and plopped back on the couch, realizing her daughter was much more perceptive than she had originally given her credit for.

'It's official; I had carried the spawn of Satan in my womb for nine months', Gabriella thought jokingly.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 **

When Troy arrived at his apartment, the giddiness immediately took over him. This was his chance to try and win more time with Ariana and maybe rekindle his relationship with Gabriella.

He hurriedly picked out his attire for the event and set it out on his brand new bed. He hadn't even slept in it yet. For the past few days the coach had been pushing him to the point that he would pass out on the couch.

As he absently started to get ready, his thoughts drifted to his daughter. He could admit he was a little disappointed when he heard she was an avid dancer. She went on and on about dancing and how lyrical, ballet, tap, musical theater and contemporary were her favorite and best styles of dance, while she said she wasn't that good at jazz and hip hop yet. And her favorite tricks were leaps and turns. Troy had no clue what any of it meant but he just listened and smiled as she talked about how fun dancing was.

He had assumed she was a girly-girl (like Sharpay). He shuddered at the thought. But she had informed him that she loved playing sports also basketball was her favorite. She also told him that she wanted to try out for her school's junior basketball team in the fall. Troy himself remembered when he first began playing basketball in 2nd grade. He didn't start off with amazing skills, he was a clumsy little kid but he got better as the years went on.

So he took her to the nearest toy store and picked her out a small, practice net. He loved the look of joy that had shown on her face when she made the basket on her first try. A sense of pride took over Troy, and he began to teach her different maneuvers. He noticed that she picked up things easily and she was a very intelligent little girl she definitely got that from her mother. He may sound biased, but his daughter, he smiled at that: _his_ daughter was the smartest, most beautiful little girl he'd ever encountered and he was truly proud that he took part in creating someone so amazing.

While he was so happy to have Ariana in his life, an unsettling thought came to mind, how was he going to tell his parents he had a child? What would their reaction be to finding out they had a grandchild that weren't informed about?

He looked over at the gaping hole he left in his bedroom wall. He'd admit when he first found out about Ariana that night he let his temper get the best of him when he returned home. He was so angry with himself for messing things up with Gabirella and in turn not being a part of his daughter's life. On the outside he pretended that he was ok with everything but on the inside he was battling himself for having done that. It also saddened him to think about how Ariana must've been wondering where her dad was all these years. It would take a while for him to get over his stupidity.

Regardless, he was just excited to have her in his life now. It was a shocking way to find out and it was really surprising news, but just knowing there was someone out there depending on him it made him want to step up, it made him feel important, and less lonely.

Suddenly, Troy was knocked out of his thoughts by a sharp rap at the door. It was Sharon, looking pissed, and holding a newspaper as if it was an AK-47.

"What is this?"

"A newspaper?"

"No, not the newspaper, silly; what is on the cover?" She said unamused.

Troy focused his eyes to see a huge picture of Ariana and him leaving the toy store, holding hands. The headline read, Bolton Heiress? By Stan (science department)

Troy looked horrified. "Oh, no! No! No!"

"You care to explain?" Sharon tapped her heels.

"I have a daughter, her name is Ariana."

"What…by whom? How long have you known this?"

"By Gabriella Montez, I just found out a few days ago."

"A…a few days ago, and you didn't think to call and tell me about it?"

"If it makes you feel better, I didn't tell Rosalina either." He shrugged.

"Being your assistant/PR agent, don't you think it would be wise for me to know these things….and not have the same status as your maid?"

"Well, to tell you the truth…I sort of forgot. And if it makes you feel any better I haven't told my parents yet either."

Sharon smacked her hand to her forehead. "Troy, I love you as if you were my own but sweetheart…you're an idiot!"

"I'm sorry…it's just been so hectic."

"What do you want to do?"

"I want everyone to know, we can schedule a press conference. I must speak with Gabriella first, though. This could be potentially embarrassing for her." He confessed.

"Potentially?"

"I'll think something up, okay. It's just…now that I know that I have a daughter, I don't want to have to cover her up."

Sharon nodded absently. "You better tell Rosalina, or she'll poison your nachos then kick your ass."

Troy laughed as he shut the door after Sharon. He began getting ready again; weary of telling Gabriella the news.

Troy kept telling himself that she wouldn't be that surprised the news. She was a smart woman; she must have gone over the scenario a thousand times in her keen mind and come up with a million solutions.

He smiled in reassurance to himself, thinking that it wasn't going to be that bad.

He was wrong.

Two hours later, Troy managed to break the news to Gabriella…her response was unexpected.

"WHAT!?"

"We made the cover of the New York Times."

"Where's my cell phone? Someone give me my cell phone! I am going to END them! Do you remember who the article was written by?"

"I don't know…Sam…Stan…something like that."

"Stan? I should've known! I am going to castrate him! He is so dead! He is so fired! And when I find out who took those pictures, they're gonna wish they were never conceived! I'm gonna make sure they don't conceive!"

"Gabriella, calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down! My 6 year old daughter is being exploited like some common cracked out starlet and you're telling me to calm down?"

"I was planning on having a press conference about it."

"What's going to be your cover story?" She asked pausing for a moment.

"I won't need one, I'm telling the truth. I'm not going to disavow my own daughter!" Troy exclaimed.

Gabriella's tone softened. "You're not?"

"Of course I'm not. Look, whatever happens will happen…let's just get ready to go."

Gabriella nodded and went back into Ariana's room to tuck her in.

She came out five minutes later, bid Christina a goodnight, and the two set off to see Sharpay do what she was obviously born to do.

* * *

The musical premiere' was buzzing. There was press everywhere and Gabriella wondered whether Stan was amongst the wandering paparazzi since he seemed so intrigued with writing gossip columns nowadays.

She was still steaming about the article he had written, and was already planning to make him pay for every moment she got. Troy took her arm, knocking her out of her mischievous thoughts. She threw him a small smile as they went through the doors. People were standing around in the lobby, chatting and waiting for the show to start.

Gabriella took a look around and watched as Troy's eyes stayed on a young, scantily clad red-head for just a second too long. She chose to ignore, but mentally rolled her eyes. She shook her head as she watched as his eyes kept drifting over to the red-head who had finally noticed she was being watched by the Troy Bolton.

The young girl smirked and tried to flirt from across the room.

Gabriella scoffed. "You know, if you came here to flirt with some little tart, you could have come alone."

Troy looked at her like he forgot she was there. Gabriella pulled her arm free and rolled her eyes. She began to stomp off angrily.

"Oh come on, I can't even look? When I asked you on this date, I didn't think I'd get you fettered to me!"

"Fettered? Like I'm some kind of shackle; I wasn't asking for much, just the common courtesy not to flirt with other women while on a date. Thanks, Troy for showing me that absolutely nothing has changed about you!"

Troy looked taken aback. "You seriously aren't that angry…if it's any consolation, that girl has nothing on you. I apologize. I haven't told you that you look lovely tonight." He said this with such sincerity that Gabriella unintentionally began to blush at his comment.

Suddenly, a man walked out and announced that the show was to begin in five minutes and everyone would be ushered to their seats.

The show began like any other show Sharpay had done for the past few years: bright, flamboyant, or as Sharpay would say- Fabulous.

Gabriella couldn't help but notice that some of the songs in the musical were blatantly familiar. She looked down at the program and was shocked to see Kelsi's name. Gabriella smirked. She had planned this whole thing.

Gabriella looked over at Troy who smirked at her, he had noticed too. Three minutes into Sharpay's fourth solo, however, was where everything went extremely wrong.

She had been in a complicated dance number when suddenly she fell to the ground and started shaking. The surrounding dancers were confused on whether to help or to continue the show. Gabriella however, was demanding that someone helped her off the stage.

The curtain was pulled down and a man came out and told the audience there would be a half hour intermission due to 'technical difficulties'. Gabriella scoffed at the 'technical difficulties' announcement- a girl fainting and having a seizure on stage is not a technical difficulty.

'But that's showbiz, it still must go on', Gabriella thought bitterly as she made her way backstage.

She found Sharpay sitting on a chair, sweating and breathing heavily. Ryan was trying to get her to drink some water and go to the hospital.

"I'm alright! It was just a little fainting spell, I told Ricardo those lights were too hot! Anyway, the show must go on!"

"Sharpay, you didn't have just 'a little fainting spell!' You blacked out and had a seizure- you're lucky to not be in a coma."Gabriella said worriedly.

"I said I'm okay!"

"Are you a doctor, how could you possibly know that? Forget the show, this is your life!" Gabriella nearly shouted.

"The show is my life!" Sharpay exclaimed.

"Well think of it this way...tonight you came pretty close to losing both! Don't press your luck. You need to get checked out."

Sharpay sighed in resignation. "Okay. But never, had I have to use a under study. I refused for them to hire one. There is no lead star!" Kelsi, Ryan, and Sharpay turned and stared at Gabriella.

Gabriella looked at them confused. "What?"

They all got catlike grins on their faces. From behind her, Gabriella heard Troy snicker.

"No way! No freaking way!"

"Freaking? You can so tell that you have a kid." Kelsi mockingly stated.

"Shut it! No! No! I haven't sung in…in…"

Sharpay cut her off. "Oh please, I heard you singing four days ago and you still sound breathtaking. Oh yeah, this IS my revenge for the 10th grade musical." She smirked. "Sadly, I think these songs were destined for you. And who am I to argue with the Gods- they gave me a seizure for it!"

"No, I will never set foot on that stage! And that is final!"

* * *

Two hours later…

"I can't believe I set foot on that stage."

"I think you did amazing."

After much encouragement from Troy and Kelsi practically begging her, Gabriella decided to fill in for Sharpay's role. She felt weird being on stage after all these years. Luckily the songs in the show had been songs she knew since Kelsi wrote many of them during high school. Plus her photographic memory helped when she was looking over the scripts and songs backstage for a brief rehearsal.

"I hated every single moment of it." Troy gave her a skeptical glance as she said this, calling out her bluff. "Why did I think that was fun when I was a teenager? I think I lost ten pounds of fat from baking under those lights!"

Troy laughed as he kept his eyes on the road. They had pulled up to her apartment. They joked and laughed about the show the entire way up to her door.

Just during the cliché, mushy- 'starting into each other's eyes, deciding whether to kiss moment'; Gabriella punched Troy in the arm…hard.

"Ow! What the bloody hell was that for?"

"Bloody hell?"

"Too much Harry Potter- but not the point! Why did you just punch me out of the blue?" Troy paused dramatically. "It ruined the cliché mushy- 'staring into each other's eyes, deciding whether to kiss moment'!"

"That's for that ginger girl at the lobby. And did you just say 'cliché, mushy- 'staring into each other's eyes, deciding whether to kiss moment'?"

"Yes, I said 'cliché, mushy- 'staring into each other's eyes, deciding whether to kiss moment'! And you ruined it, for restitution, you should just give me a kiss."

He puckered up and bent down towards her. All he got was a "Bye, Troy" and a door slam in the face.

* * *

On Monday morning, Gabriella walked briskly into the New York Times lobby–her stilettos clicking against the marble floors. She looked like a woman on a mission and her mission was to make Stan's life a living hell.

Her colleagues stared at her as she entered her office, knowing full well who Ariana's mother was. The press conference wasn't scheduled until tomorrow.

She was sick of getting the curious and sometimes envious stares from her co-workers and even some strangers on the street. Christina even seemed to look at her and Ariana differently.

Gabriella entered her office and immediately began to work. She knew she was being a bit childish and she had long since come to terms that her 'little' secret would have been unleashed eventually.

It was just the knowledge that it was Stan who had done it that made Gabriella irritated.

"Stan! Come in my office, please."

In the distance she could hear the lows jeers of the employees and smirked. They would be getting a pay raise.

Stan came in with his head held high and an extremely pompous look on his face. "Yes?"

"I've read your new article- made the front page congratulations. It was a great piece of work." She said this conversationally, she could have been telling him the weather forecast.

Stan's arrogant expression changed into a confused one. He had been expecting her to openly complain about it- he had been prepared for that.

"Tha…thanks. I guess…" He turned around to exit the office but was stopped when Gabriella's voice rang out.

"Oh, Stan. Just one last thing the next time you decide to invade my daughter's privacy could you be a dear and ask me first to do it?"

"Um…right." He took a step to leave out of the office.

"Oh and Stan, I can see your in a hurry, but could you run down to Starbucks for me- I'm terribly exhausted and I need a little boost. It would terribly salutary for your future finances to do so."

"Right. I'll get right to that." There was that smart-ass tone she was used to.

"And Stan, the one in the Village- they have the most fabulous skinny French Vanilla lattes."

"The village? We're in Manhattan."

"Yes the village. And I know we're in Manhattan dear- I passed geography in high school. That will be all- I'll need that in 15 minutes tops. Double shot, please!"

"15 minutes?"

"Stan, dear, you must really get that parrot speech defect rectified- I know an excellent speech coach. I'll email you his number. Now hurry! You only have 14 minutes now!"

Stan jetted out of the office and Gabriella giggled. That was only the beginning.

* * *

**AN: I apologize for taking so long to update; these last few weeks have been hectic with my classes and everything. I have to work around my beta's schedule also and she's been busy so that's another reason I haven't been updating. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"No." Gabriella stated strongly.

"Come on! It makes much more sense." Troy retorted running a frustrated hand through his hair.

Gabriella shook her head. "No."

"Well, why the hell not?"

"I don't want her in the spotlight like that."

"News flash, Gabriella, she already is! Her father is a pro-ball player and mother is an editor at the New York Times and the talented woman who saved the show when Sharpay Evans bombed."

"I know, I just…"

"I won't let them exploit her, but you know that the press conference would go more smoothly if she was there with us. The hounds won't be too disrespectful in front of a kid."

"I know. You're right. But tomorrow…can't we postpone it a little?"

"Sorry Gabs, sooner rather than later."

Gabriella sighed, extricating her folded arms. She plumped down on the couch. Troy copied her action.

"I um… I called my parents today. They want us to come down to Albuquerque sometime this summer with Ariana."

Gabriella swallowed hard and tensed up. She hadn't even thought about Troy's parents. Over the years she tried to block thinking about Troy so his parents never really crossed her mind. She had never really been close with his parents to begin with, while Troy's mother had always been cordial to her when she was around, there had always tension between her and Troy's father.

"Oh great, I bet your dad will hate me even more now."

"He never hated you to begin with."

"Troy he didn't even want me going out with you in high school because he felt like I was this big distraction to your basketball career."

"That was when we first started seeing each other he came around." He paused for a moment. "Look don't worry about it, of course they were a little upset. But I made it clear that it wasn't your fault. It was mine. If I wasn't such an asshole none of this would've happened."

Gabriella leaned back against the cushions with a lackluster look on her face. Troy remembered that look; the expression crossed her face whenever she became uninterested with talking about something.

Troy watched her closely. "Just at least consider going down, it would be good for Ariana."

Gabriella nodded absentmindedly. They left the conversation at that. There was a long pause before either said anything.

"So any word from Sharpay?"

"None. I've left tons of voice messages, texts, e-mails, I even land mailed her and still no reply. I'm thinking it's time to investigate. I'm going over to her apartment today, and if she doesn't answer, I'll kick the door down."

Troy snorted but it was followed by a yawn.

"Little sleep?" Gabriella asked.

"Chad snores so loudly…"

Gabriella looked confused. "How would you know that?"

"Taylor kicked him out yesterday."

"What? Why? How did I not know this?"

"Apparently he ate the last of the honey-nut cheerios." Troy said with a chuckle.

Gabriella shook her head and scoffed at what he just said, it sounded completely ridiculous. "What?" Gabriella couldn't help but to worry that if they could argue over something as trivial as that, their relationship seemed to be on the path to becoming a statistic. "I've been passing over my friends e-mails looking for Sharpay…I could have prevented this. Oh no!"

"Calm down Gabriella, Chad went back home this morning. He seemed oddly okay with being thrown out over a box of cereal."

Gabriella shook her head. "Weird."

Troy nodded and yawned again.

"Why don't you just go home and go to sleep. You can see Ariana tomorrow, when you pick us up for the press conference." Troy had stopped by unaware that Ariana was staying at dance practice later today having a private rehearsal with Ryan. Christina would pick her up in a few hours and watch her while she visited Sharpay.

Troy nodded absently and leant in to give Gabriella a kiss on her cheek. When she felt his lips meet her skin she tensed up and a giddy sensation that she hadn't felt in a long time surrounded her. It was a shame that a simple kiss on the cheek from Troy could get her so worked up, but she choose to condone it, for now.

"I'm out."

He went to his car sleepily and drove to his apartment. He was pleasantly surprised to find Rosalina frying something exotic with his new pans.

"Rosa."

"Troy! Come and try!"

"I'm not really…"

"Nonsense…you look so fragile. I need to beef you up!" She always said that even though he'd gained a few more pounds of muscle since moving to NYC due to all his intense workouts.

Troy rolled his eyes warmly and went in to the kitchen to taste the delicious food she was cooking.

Tasting the food, Rosalina looked at him expectantly. "Delicious."

Her face brightened as she placed the food back n the stove to sizzle. "Now, when do I get to meet this daughter of yours?"

"In a few days; when do I get to meet that family of yours?"

"How about you bring her over my daughter's house in a week; my grand-baby is having a birthday party- he seemed around your daughter's age."

"That would be good. I haven't been to a fiesta in a while."

"Just a small one, but it will be fun for the children. Now go. You look tired. "

Troy nodded and walked into his bedroom and fell on the bed.

* * *

"Sharpay? Sharpay I know you're in there, open up!" She banged on the door, knowing she was probably annoying the neighbors but she couldn't care less. "Sharpay, we are all worried about you. Ryan is going mad and don't let me start on Taylor. Please! Open up!"

Behind the door, Gabriella heard the bolt lock move and heard the clicks of the door opening. There behind that wooden frame, was Sharpay Evans looking dowdier than ever. She contrasted greatly to the fabulous and beautiful background of her apartment- of her former self.

Her hair looked dirty and greasy; she had tear-stains on her cheeks. Her past make up smudged. And if Gabriella was correct, she was still wearing the same clothes from two days ago.

"Wha?" Soon as the sound left Gabriella's mouth, Sharpay broke down into sobs again. "Honey?"

"My…life… my life is such a wreck!"

"Sharpay? What are you talking about?" Gabriella embraced the crying, broken woman.

"I went…I went to the doctors…and…and told them… I told them my sym… symptoms from the p…past week." It took a while for this sentence to get out, seeing as she sobbed in between the words.

Gabriella nodded and led them over to her couch.

"They asked if I needed a STD test."

Gabriella tensed- the realization dawning on her.

"I'm positive."

And those were the clearest words Sharpay had spoken in two days.

* * *

The next day…

"So, she is your daughter?" A reporter asked.

"That is correct."

Gabriella had called him early this morning stating that it was an emergency with Sharpay and she couldn't make the press conference so he and Ariana were together on this one.

A different reporter stood and asked. "So did you know about her previously?"

"No I did not. Her mother kept her from me for very private and justified reasons. She didn't want Ariana to grow up in the spotlight and didn't want to hinder me from my basketball career."

"Who is the mother?" Another reporter asked.

"Gabriella Montez- many may recognize her name from the New York Times. She's been amazing at being a single mother for Ariana these past years.

"Will you provide for her?" It was a question from the same reporter.

"Not that she needs much providing- but yes, I will help take care of Ariana."

"How about you, Ariana- how do you feel about this?" This reporter really had a lot of questions and didn't seem interested in letting anyone ask questions any time soon.

Suddenly everyone at the press conference had their eyes on the little girl who had tried to make herself invisible. She seemed to have the same stage fright as her mom.

"Ariana, do you want to speak?" Troy shot her a comforting look and she timidly nodded her head, yes.

He smiled proudly- amazed at how brave his little girl was. "My dad is the best dad a girl could ask for."

"How did you take the news, sweetie?"

"I figured it out on my own – a year ago."

"My, my, my… you sure are smart for such a little thing."

"Thank you."

The reporter woman smiled- but it did not quite reach her eyes. An eerie chill went down both Ariana and Troy. Behind her innocent façade- the reporter woman looked at them as if they were meal tickets…or more like yacht tickets.

"Thank you for coming here today to clear this up."

"Will she have an impact on your game?"

Troy answered without any hesitation. "I think she'll make it even better. Now that's all the questions I'm taking."

Troy bent down and picked up Ariana. His eyes caught the flamboyant reporter woman once more and looked away. The woman had a smirk on her face and was looking at him as if she sees dollar signs. He'd have to watch out for her.

"Ready to go home, kid?"

"No, I want pizza."

Troy laughed. "Okay, pizza it is."

* * *

Gabriella ended up sleeping over at Sharpay's, she had literally cried the whole night. Gabriella couldn't leave her side in that state. Gabriella called Ariana's baby sitter, Christina and asked her to watch Ariana for the night, promising to pay her double for the extra hours. The next morning Sharpay was still so distorted so she decided to call Troy and tell him she couldn't make the press conference. She hadn't left Sharpay's side until Ryan showed up to look after her. All she wanted to do was go home, shower, and rest. But it wasn't long after that –that Taylor called her to come over.

"Taylor, sit still! I'm trying to watch the conference!"

"I'm sorry…it's just…" Taylor started turning pale and ran in the direction of the bathroom. From the couch, Gabriella heard her friend puking. Gabriella groaned and went in to help her.

Taylor sat next to the toilet, on the floor- her head resting her head against the toilet bowl.

"Did you eat something that's not agreeing with you?"Gabriella asked concerned.

"No, no it's just…"She couldn't even get her sentence out before a second load of vomit came rushing out.

"I'm…I'm pregnant I found out a few days ago." Taylor safter she calmed down.

Gabriella's face lit up.

"What's going on in here?" Kelsi asked.

"TAYLOR'S PREGNANT!" Gabriella said excitedly.

"WHAT?! SHUT UP! NO WAY!" Kelsi ran into the bathroom and did a happy dance with Gabriella.

Taylor smiled lazily up from her spot on the floor. They helped her up and helped her to the couch. While they chatted amongst themselves, Gabriella caught a glimpse of a certain reporter woman on the screen.

"Oh no. Not Beverly Sheen."

"Beverly Sheen?" Kelsi looked confused.

"Just the worst reporter to ever interview you. She'll twist your words around to get a fake scoop. She'd do anything for a decent paycheck and vicarious fame. I should have warned Troy."

"What's the worst that dowdy woman can do." Taylor proclaimed.

"Did you just say dowdy?" Kelsi asked with a giggle.

"Look at her- it fits!"

Kelsi and Gabriella giggled. Taylor rolled her eyes and opened up a bag of chips set on eating them but she couldn't even get one in her mouth before she groaned and jetted off to the bathroom again.

"How about you take this shift and I'll take the next." Gabriella suggested.

Kelsi giggled and went to pick Taylor up yet again.

* * *

**AN: Please review and let me know what you guys think.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 **

"No, maybe we should recheck the thesis. This is totally off from the initial hypothesis." Gabriella stated baffled.

"What, are you amazed that you're wrong?"

"No, but for it to be a chemical decomposition seems so jaded. Add the positively charged hydrogen to it. See how it reacts. But wait a few days to expose it oxygen. Then we can go from there."

Mark, Gabriella's lab assistant, nodded. He tensely followed her instructions as she peeled off her rubber gloves and rid herself from her lab coat.

After Mark finished he hovered around, as if anxious to ask her something. The tension was palpable in the air, so after ignoring him for a few minutes, Gabriella finally relented.

"Yes, Mark?"

He gave her his shy, geeky smile that was somehow charming. It immediately melted her icy demeanor. "I was wondering...how you were doing? You know with Troy being back."

"How long have you known who Ariana's real father was?"

"A few years, I was too chicken to ask you, though. It doesn't take a rocket-scientist to figure it out and I am a rocket-scientist."

Gabriella giggled. "I'm fine, Mark. There has been so much going on."

Mark nodded in understanding. He began to pack up his things.

"Hey, Mark."

"Yeah?"

"Not to be cliché or anything, but thanks."

Mark nodded and smiled. Gabriella smiled back and walked out of the lab.

* * *

Gabriella walked tiredly up the steps from the subway. Happy to be finally home, she looked up at her building to find absolute chaos. Her apartment building was in flames. Officers had the street quarantined off.

"Oh no! No!" She immediately got on her cell phone and called Ariana's nanny.

"I know. I know. We're safe. I dropped her off over her father's. We've been trying to call you."

"Maybe I should start leaving my cell phone on during lab. Okay. Thanks for getting her out safely." Gabriella hung up and called Troy.

"I have her. She's safe. Gabs, I'm so sorry. The fire was started on your floor. I've already called and they said there is nothing left."

"How could this happen? We've lost everything! I'll come pick her up- where do you live?"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Gabriella was outside of his door. She immediately scooped Ariana up in her arms as she entered the spacey loft.

"My baby, my baby! I'm so happy you're okay!"

"Yeah, yeah. Let me go, mommy. The Pistons are playing the Celtics and they're going into over time." She squirmed out of Gabriella's tight grasp and ran back to the television. Troy laughed as he led her into the flat.

Gabriella took a look around. "This apartment just screams rich bachelor. Really Troy, you don't bring women here do you? You better check their purses and size D bra cups for turkey bastes'- you wouldn't want to be trapped."

"Haha…I'm actually very careful with the women I sleep with and you would know about trapping, Gabriella."

Gabriella froze. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare ever insinuate something like that ever again! I didn't ask for Ariana, she just happened to be a gift sent to me."

"I'm sorry I was just kidding. I didn't mean that."

Gabriella calmed down. "I know, it's just...I know that there are lots of people out there who think…"

"Who cares what they think. This is what we know: You and I were together, I was a jerk, and you rightfully left me. But if I had known you were pregnant, I would've never let you leave. I didn't deserve you but I wouldn't have let you raise her on your own."

"I wasn't exactly on my own and I did well without you."

"You did excellent without me."

"And it seems you are doing excellent now. Ariana loves you."

"I'm fond of the kid, myself. So what are you going to do about living arrangements?"

"I guess we can stay with some friends or rent out a hotel room until I can find a new home. I'm going to have to replace everything expect pictures my mom has all the copies. But I'm so relieved Ariana is okay. There is no way to replace her."

"There is no way I'm letting my child and her mother live in a hotel. You'll stay here."

"Don't be ridiculous! I can always stay with Sharpay, or even Kelsi she's barely home anyways she's always traveling."

"Sharpay is too sick right now to handle a six year old child in her home, and Kelsi lives in a small apartment in the village. I have four bedrooms, Gabriella. Don't fight it."

Gabriella sighed. "Okay. I guess we're moving in."

Distantly they heard Ariana cheer- "YESSSSS!"

They shared a look and shook their heads.

* * *

Gabriella woke up just after midnight and when she couldn't bring herself to go back to bed she sought out the kitchen, but she didn't expect to find Troy there either.

"Hey what are you doing up?" Gabriella asked walking into the large kitchen.

"Couldn't sleep." Troy answered simply as he laid out some bread and spread peanut butter over it. "You?"

"Same", she agreed. She walked over to the fridge and looked for a small snack. She settled on an orange.

"PB&amp;J?" Troy asked turning towards her as she grabbed the fruit.

She shook her head in response, "nah."

Somehow what began as them getting a snack turned into an hour long conversation. It had started off as a light chat with lots of laughter, and was gradually moving on to deeper territories. The conversation that both of them had been putting off and instead just smiling and acting like everything was okay for the sake of Ariana.

"So um…" Troy hesitantly looked across the kitchen table at her. He looked so timid that Gabriella knew whatever it was he was about to say was serious. "I have something to tell you and it's been on my mind for a while and I just don't know how to get it out but…"

"Troy just spill. Your rambling is getting you nowhere."

"Um well I know we haven't talked about this but I think it's time." Gabriella gestured for him to continue. "The mistakes I made in the past they weren't just out of the blue you know."

Gabriella look confused. "You mean the cheating…"

"Yeah I've never told you this but the reason why I had done all those idiotic things was because I was going through a hard time dealing with what was happening with my parents."

Now Gabriella looked really confused, she'd always thought Jack and Lucille had a great loving relationship. "What happened Troy?"

"My mom she was um having an affair and my dad found out and well they were considering divorce." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I guess I kind of lost trust in my mom for a while and just woman in general. But instead of trying to rise above it and not make her mistakes, I did exactly the opposite. I was pissed, angry, all I wanted to do was party and think of something else rather than what she did. And then I turn around and do the same thing to you. Yes it was dumb of me to cheat on you and I know this won't excuse anything but I just thought I should let you know."

Gabriella sighed; this was a lot to process in such a short time. "They're okay now, right?"

"Yeah they separated for a while but they had worked things out. I haven't visited in a while but we do call each other and visit on holidays of course."

"Wow…" that's all she could think to say.

"I just want you to know I don't blame you at all for what you did. My actions are the sole reason it happened this way." He paused and a genuine smile crossed his face. "But I'm happy that I can be there for her now."

* * *

"Ari stop moving please." The little girl kept squirming as Gabi tried to adjust the skirt on her.

They had been out shopping all day having to replace their entire wardrobe and necessities they'd lost to the fire. It was tradition that at least once a week her and Ariana would spend the day together doing something fun, ironically they called them 'fun days'. It just so happened that today they, well Gabriella, decided that shopping would be the appropriate thing to do. Thankfully, Troy had let her borrow his car for the day while she and Ariana shopped so they wouldn't have to carry all the bags around by hand. She just had to pick him up from practice later.

So far they'd visited a dance wear store to purchase new leotards for Ariana, Gabriella bought some clothes for herself, and they'd selectively bought accessories for their rooms.

Troy and Ariana spent the previous day painting her new room, Ariana picked out the colors all by herself selecting a light blue color with green offsets. Gabriella loved how close Ariana and Troy seemed to have gotten in a short time.

"Now let me see you." Gabriella stood back as Ariana struck a pose in her little outfit. "That's really adorable."

She purchased a few outfits for Ariana from the children's store and they quickly exited and hopped in the car deciding to grab a bit to eat before continuing with their shopping for the day.

All day she noticed a car had been trailing wherever they went, it was so clear that a photographer had been following them. It made her feel extremely uneasy that she couldn't even enjoy a day out with her daughter without some creep following them.

They sat down at a small bistro and gave their orders.

"Mommy, Uncle Ryan showed me some pictures from the show; it's so cool how you were performing on stage."

Gabriella smiled at her excitement.

"But why were you performing? Wasn't it Sharpay's show?" She asked curiously.

"Sharpay got a little sick so I took over for her."

"Oh. Is she ok?"

"Yeah the hospital and doctors are taking good care of her."

"Umm mommy." She said hesitantly.

"Yeah." Gabriella answered.

"Now that you and dad are living together are you going to get back together and share a room like other mommy's and daddy's do?" She looked so hopeful, but Gabriella knew she had to tell her the truth.

"No, baby, just because we're living together doesn't mean we're getting back together,"Ariana's head drooped and her smiled dropped. "But the good part is we'll get to spend more time with you together."

"Like family time?" Ariana looked up, her blue eyes sparkled.

Gabriella nodded and smiled.

* * *

**AN: First off I would like to say thank you to the few people who have been reviewing and giving their thoughts! I would like to hear from the rest of the readers also. I want to know what you guys think, if you have any ideas for upcoming chapters, if you have any questions etc. So if you're reading please take a few seconds out to review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Gabriella walked into the hospital, absolutely hating it. The smell of medicine, and sterilized death never sat well with her.

The receptionist smiled as she approached. "Hello, welcome to General Grace Hospital, what can I do for you?"

She smiled politely. Gabriella hated the polite tone receptionists had too; it's like they were built with special receptionist vocal cords or something. "I'm here to visit Sharpay Evans, she had checked into the hospital yesterday."

"Oh yes, the Broadway singer. Sorry to hear about her…well about her illness."

But she didn't look very sorry, she just smiled that rehearsed sympathetic smile all hospital receptionist had- Gabriella swore it was part of their training.

Gabriella nodded impatiently. "The room number?"

"Oh yes! So silly of me! She's in room 1408. Do you need help finding that dear?"

"No, thank you." Gabriella walked away, slightly upset they had placed her friend in a room that had a horror movie named after it, but knowing Sharpay- she probably had requested the room as a joke.

She strolled up to the elevators, and pushed the button for up. As soon as she went into an empty elevator, a blond man came running around the corner.

It took Gabriella about two seconds to realize that this was the blonde man…THE blonde man; the one that most women at the office idolized and up close she could see why. He looked like he leaped out of a photo shoot in GQ Magazine.

He looked up at her after struggling with a gift bag he had in his hands and she was stunned by the Grayish-blue of his eyes…almost silver. He then shot her a boyish grin and she watched as his eyes widened in recognition. It was official, Gabriella would need new underwear.

"Don't you work at The New York Times?"

Gabriella was shocked that his voice was even perfect. 'And I've been running from this man, because?'

"Uh…" She realized she probably sounded like a cave woman but grunts were all she could manage when he was staring at her like that. And she was pretty sure it was official that he was stalking her. "Yeah. Um, yeah…Science department."

"Yeah, I'm in the Entertainment department." He had one of those smiles that lit up an entire room or in this case, elevator. "I'm Talan. You're not stalking me are you?"

Gabriella giggled weakly- knowing that he was only joking. "No, I'm here to visit a friend. What about you?"

"Oh, I'm here to visit my Great Aunt."

"Oh. Is she alright?"

"Not really, she refuses to admit to her cancer. She's still in denial mode- even after living with it for about five years." He said shrugging in that manner that all men do when they are brushing off something they are really hurt about but don't want the world to know.

"Sorry to hear that."

They stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds, listening to the elevator music.

"I hate elevator music." Gabriella said nonchalantly.

"Seriously; if there was a way to gouge my ears out, I'd be all up for it." Talan agreed.

"But then you won't be able to hear my beautiful voice."

"True. But doesn't it seem like the quieter the people in an elevator are, the louder the music gets?" Talan alleged completely serious.

"I know, like there's some little person sitting in on top of the elevator to turn it up."

They both looked at each other and realized they were having a full discussion about elevator music and broke out in hysterics.

While laughing they began to clutch each other, Gabriella felt tears coming out of her eyes. Talan reached down and wiped them away. The skin to skin contact sobered them both up in record time and they realized the position they were in.

Talan was holding Gabriella, her body slightly arched towards him- they probably resembled a French ad for perfume.

As light brown eyes met silver ones, they were both unable to speak; feeling uncomfortable in the position they were but unwilling to let go of each other.

The 'ding' of the elevator doors opening shocked them both of the stupor as they realized Gabriella had reached her floor.

"Well, I get off here." She said awkwardly.

"Wait; you never gave me your name."He smirked.

"Gabriella Montez."

He held the elevator doors from closing with his hand; Standing slightly over her in a sexy, intimidating manner.

"So Miss Montez, if you aren't doing anything Saturday, I'm going to a rock concert in Central Park. I promise there won't be any elevator music there. So…?"

He grinned boyishly and Gabriella was a goner.

"Okay, I'd love to go."

His grin widened to a smile- flashing his perfect teeth.

"Great! I'll pick you up at 6, the concert starts at seven. Is that alright?"

Gabriella nodded. "Give me your cell."

He used his other hand to retrieve his sleek, iPhone out of his pocket and unlocked it with one hand. Gabriella inserted her number into it and handed it back to him.

"Don't you need to take a picture?"

"Don't worry, there's no way I'd forgot you."

He winked, and managed to pull it off without seeming corny or creepy- truly amazing. At the same time he let go of the elevator doors and stepped back into it.

Even after the doors had completely closed, Gabriella sat staring at the doors- seeing her reflection, mouth gaping and all. She took a deep breath and remembered why she was there- to visit Sharpay.

After a minute of walking down the hall, she realized she couldn't keep the smile off her face- she had a date. She had a date with a funny, smart, well dressed, completely, gorgeous man.

She arrived at 1408 a minute later, not needing the room number plate to help her. She could pick out Sharpay's door from million different others because Sharpay's was the only blinged out hospital door she had ever seen.

Grinning, she pushed open the hospital door to find Sharpay lying in bed sleep; everything peaceful. Sighing, Gabriella sat her belongings down on a side table and sat next to Sharpay on the bed.

Not wanting to wake her, she settled for studying Sharpay in her sleep. Her usually glossy hair seemed dull and lifeless; she had circles around her eyes.

She was also a lot paler than normal. Sighing sadly, Gabriella took Sharpay's hand in hers softly.

"GRRRRR!"

Gabriella screamed loudly and fell of the bed. Sharpay laughed hysterical as she shimmied out of the covers and off the bed.

Gabriella lay panting on the floor, when Sharpay suddenly stood over her, giggling.

"Gotcha!"

"You little…"

"I know, I know…but it was just so easy. You were so into the sad Lifetime movie thing, I couldn't resist."She said as she picked her up off the ground. She then went around the bed and found the remote.

"So what has the outside world been up to?"

"Oh you know- the regular, drama…drama…drama."

Sharpay sighed. "The way I like it."

Gabriella giggled.

"You're bubblier today than when I first met… what's up? Did you and Troy finally hook up?"

"What! No? What do you mean finally hook up? If you haven't noticed, we have the proof in the shape of a six year old girl that we have in fact hooked up and never are going to again in the near future."

"So in the distant future, you'll hook up?"

"We talked last night and he just shed some light on things. I just feel more relief about the situation now."

"Explain?"

"He told me why he cheated."

"And what was the reason?" Sharpay pressed on.

"Gosh are you the journalist or me?" Gabriella questioned jokingly, Sharpay simply shrugged in response and looked at Gabriella closely expecting her to continue. "Shar that's all I'm saying. I'm pretty sure Troy doesn't want me spreading around what he told me. "

Sharpay rolled her eyes and grunted. "Ok whatever! So back to the original question, will you?"

"No! Just drop it. Anyway, I have a date."

"With whom?"

"I was in the elevator and this gorgeous guy from my job happened to be here too. We talked and laughed and when I was leaving out he stopped the elevator and asked me out."

"I have I been gone from society so long that I didn't know the new place to get dates is the hospital? I should have checked in weeks ago."

Gabriella shook her head while snickering at her friend's crazy sense of humor.

"So where are you guys going?"

"Some rock concert in central park Saturday." Gabriella said nonchalantly.

"Some rock concert! Some rock… do you realize who are playing tomorrow. It's the Rock Legends Tour… those tickets are nearly impossible to get. You have to be really connected- there are only a hundred seats and it's a charity event. You make it sound like its some free concert for the all of New York."

"Well that's what he made it sound like."

"Those seats had to cost him five thousand, at least. He must really like you, to give them away to some brunette." Sharpay smiled as she ruffled Gabriella's hair.

In a playful Ariana-like fashion, Gabriella stuck her tongue out at her.

Sharpay laughed.

"So what are you going to wear? It's got to be rocking (obviously), yet still sophisticated."

Gabriella shrugged.

"Oh I am so coming over your house before your date to get you ready. Then maybe I'll get a peek at mysterious, rich, elevator man."

"I'm not sure if he's rich. He works for the Entertainment section of the newspaper so it might just be job perks."

"True, But that's even more fabulous! You'd get into all of the hot concerts and clubs now."

"Because I'm such the clubber", she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"What time is your date?"

"6 o'clock."

"I'll be at your house at 3." Sharpay confirmed.

"Am I that hideous, that you would need 3 hours to beautify me?"

"No not hideous honey, just facially challenged." Sharpay giggled at Gabriella's affronted glare. "You know you're beautiful, Gabs. You have that exotic look that would attract any man so stop being so self conscious. I just need 3 hours to decide on the outfit and makeup and… you know how indecisive I can be."

"Yeah, I know!" Gabriella exclaimed.

"Well, at least one of us is going to be having some fun tomorrow."

"Hey, you wanna watch Ariana? That would be fun!"

"That terror!"

"You think that about all kids."

"I took her shopping once and she bit me to get my attention! She bit me! The Chanel store assistant looked so shocked- but at least she didn't get a chunk taken out of her just because the basketball game was starting in ten minutes."

Gabriella burst out in giggles.

"Troy did that same thing to me in college. She inherited his biting!"

Sharpay smiled. "Great, but I'm still not watching your daughter."

"It was worth a try." Gabriella sighed. "So have you tried to contact what's-his-face?"

"What's-his-face?"

"You know the blonde guy that followed you around with a camera 'filming your Broadway success'… I'm guessing he's the one that's caused this."

"That douche! He completely ditched town after he got what he wanted. I haven't heard from him in weeks."

"I knew he was up to no good, what a creep."

"You can say that again. That dirty bastard gave me the clap. I'm just happy it's curable. The queen of Broadway will live to see another day." Sharpay tried to joke even though Gabriella didn't find much humor in what was said.

"Just please be careful, I would be devastated if something happens to you." Gabriella teared up a little.

"Oh you mushy little buttercup," Sharpay hugged her. She sighed and continued half jokingly. "I definitely learned my lesson no more young creepy guys with cameras."

After two hours of talking and hysterical laughter, Gabriella hauled herself out of Sharpay's room.

She entered Troy's condo quietly, realizing it was Ariana's bedtime and half expecting to find her bouncing around the room. But instead she tucked into her new bed in her new lavish bedroom- well it would be lavish for any boy.

Gabriella sighed and went to peek into Troy's room- he was sound asleep he had a look of boyish innocence on his face. Gabriella snorted at her thoughts.' If there is one thing that Troy is not, it's innocent'.

Gabriella shut his door quietly and proceeded into her still plain room. Tiredly, she tugged off her clothes and put on her pajamas. While in bed, she began to think of her date with Talan, but her thoughts had drifted to Troy by the time she had fallen asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

First off, I just want to apologize for not updating and not being very responsive. I've been very busy these last few months. I've literally had no time to write or update. I'm hoping over Christmas break I'll be able to have this story written and finished, that way I could just post regularly after that. As of now, I need beta readers. Things have been super hectic for the beta reader I had, so I don't think she'll be able to do it anymore. I would like to have this story completely written, structured, and laid out for publishing by the beginning of January because after that I know I won't be able to write (as I'll be completely busy and dedicated to my schoolwork).

If you've beta read before and you're interested in helping me out, please inbox me; because honestly I need ALOT of help with this story and input on where I should go with it. As of now, the rest of the chapters I have written are EXTREMELY rough with little to no structure (I feel). So basically, if someone out there could beta read for me and help me out with the direction of this story that would help a lot. Like I said, I really want to get this story finished over Christmas break, otherwise it won't be possible for me continue. So beta readers please contact me.


End file.
